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WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced today that it
will require AT&T Inc. (AT&T) to divest assets in eight areas
in Louisiana and Mississippi in order to proceed with its $944 million
acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. (Centennial). The Department
said that the transaction, as originally proposed, would substantially
lessen competition to the detriment of consumers of mobile wireless
telecommunications services in those areas, and likely would result
in higher prices, lower quality and reduced network investments. The
divestitures cover portions of southwestern and central Louisiana and
southwestern Mississippi.

The Department's Antitrust Division, along with the Attorney General
of Louisiana, filed a civil lawsuit today in U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia to block the proposed acquisition of Centennial
by AT&T. At the same time, the Department and the Louisiana Attorney
General filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court,
would resolve the competitive concerns in the lawsuit.

"These divestitures are necessary to preserve the benefits of competition
for wireless customers in these areas of Louisiana and Mississippi,"
said Christine A. Varney, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Department's Antitrust Division."

According to the complaint, AT&T and Centennial are each other's
closest competitor for a significant set of customers in eight Cellular
Marketing Areas (CMAs), as defined by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). The complaint alleges that the proposed transaction would substantially
reduce competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services in
each of these areas. The proposed settlement requires divestitures in
these areas to eliminate the competitive concerns.

AT&T is the second largest mobile wireless telecommunications
services provider in the United States as measured by subscribers, serving
almost 80 million subscribers throughout all 50 states. In 2008, AT&T
earned mobile wireless telecommunications services revenues of approximately
$44 billion. Centennial is the eighth largest mobile wireless telecommunications
services provider in the United States as measured by subscribers, and
provides mobile wireless telecommunications services to approximately
1.1 million wireless subscribers in six states, Puerto Rico, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2008, Centennial earned approximately $1 billion
in total revenues.

The transaction also is subject to review by the FCC. The Department
has cooperated with the FCC's separate review of this matter.

As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed settlement, along with
the Department's competitive impact statement, will be published in
the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning
the proposed settlement during a 60-day comment period to Nancy M. Goodman,
Chief, Telecommunications and Media Enforcement Section, Antitrust Division,
U.S. Department of Justice, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 7000, Washington,
D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the U.S.
District Court for the District of Columbia may enter the proposed settlement
upon finding that it is in the public interest.